


Isolation

by Rangergirl3



Series: Whumptober 2019 [7]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Gen, Isolation, Keith (Voltron) Whump
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-18
Updated: 2019-10-18
Packaged: 2020-12-21 11:51:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,050
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21074444
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rangergirl3/pseuds/Rangergirl3
Summary: Keith hates being alone.





	Isolation

The lights in the ceiling spear into Keith's eyes. Everything's too bright.

_It always is._

Someone's just wrapped a bandage around the side of his head, but they're not...they're not talking to him.

_The silence scares him._

Keith tries to open his eyes, but the light -

_It hurts. _

The bandage presses hard against his temples, like it's been wound too tight.

_It's too quiet._

There's so much silence around him.

_It scares him._

* * *

The person who bandaged his head had left without saying goodbye.

_The people who leave him **never** say goodbye._

Keith curls up in a corner of the room and hides his face in his hands.

_Was it something he'd done wrong?_

He'd called out for his friends, but no one had answered.

_Maybe they had left him behind._

He doesn't want to believe that they would do that, but...

_Why else would he be left all alone?_

When the tears start, he doesn't bother trying to wipe them away.

_He's alone. He'll always be alone._

He should just get used to it.

* * *

* * *

The alien doctor folds her arms across her chest and stands her ground. 

"Half-bloods are a _threat_," she all but snarls. "I will _not_ allow it free access to my other patients, even if it has managed to convince you that it is, for _now_, a friend."

Allura balls her fists at her sides, debating whether or not punching this bigot across the room would be a diplomatic thing to do.

She almost doesn't care.

At her side, Coran adjusts his stance. Like her, he's ready and willing to do whatever it takes to get their friend out of this facility and back to the Castle of Lions.

_Should they use force yet?_

From the corner of her eye, she sees the signal. 

Pidge is almost in. 

_No._

_No, not yet._

Allura grinds her teeth and turns her full attention back to the alien doctor.

_Buy the others time._

_That's all she has to do._

* * *

* * *

As one, the Garrison Trio crash through the penultimate door, almost falling over each other in their haste to get their friend out of here.

If Shiro weren't in a healing pod on the Castle, Hunk is virtually certain that there would be about seven broken doors by now. Or walls.

_Yeah, knowing Shiro, there would definitely be several broken walls by now, too._

These hallways are - they're so sterile and quiet and...and lifeless.

It's like these aliens took Keith into the creepiest, coldest wing of the entire building on purpose.

Then Hunk turns around and sees through the tiny window in the final door, and realizes what that room is.

_It's a room meant to keep someone away from other people._

Keith is curled up in the farthest corner, and he's...

He's _crying._

* * *

"Just a tic. I have to - get this right on the first try -"

As they wait, Lance spits out a string of curses that Pidge is positive his mother would not approve of in the slightest.

Then again, she is the only one using the word 'fuck' as both an adjective _and_ a verb at the moment. (Not that she would, you know, like, actually 'fuck' anything or anyone, ever. Eew. Gross. _No_.)

Even Hunk, usually the gentlest and kindest of them all, is quietly but vehemently listing off the ways he's pissed off under his breath.

The lock clicks open.

* * *

* * *

Keith hears distant words coming from the doorway to the room, but he doesn't dare look up.

_From what he can tell, the voices are angry. _

He tries to stay as still and as silent as possible, but he knows it won't do him any good.

_It never did before._

Against his will, more tears slide down his face.

_He **hates** this._

He **hates** feeling so weak and broken.

_But he can't ignore the truth any longer._

He's been broken for a long, long time.

* * *

* * *

"Allow me to clarify a point," the Altean Princess says. Her forced smile does not reach her eyes. Coran can tell that the phrasing is a deliberate choice, made more for forced politeness' sake than actually asking for permission.

The doctor's eyes narrow, but Allura presses on, ignoring the tension in the room.

"_Keith_ is **_not_** an _it_," she says. "He is someone who cares, deeply, for the people he defends - even when they call him a _half-breed_."

The doctor huffs out what might be a derisive chuckle. "Oh, is _that _the case," she spits. "Well, _Princess_, allow me to -"

_That's_ when Allura steps forwards, and her glare could melt through glacier ice. Coran is almost positive the wall three feet behind the hospital matron's head begins to steam with the full force of Allura's ire.

"I have not finished speaking," Allura says. Her tone is diplomatic. Her glare is not.

Coran smiles, very faintly, to himself. Yes. She is very like King Alfor in this moment - especially when she leans in just close enough to make the matron blink a few times.

"My friend almost _died _defending your planet from Sendak's attack. You said you would _help_ him."

The matron sniffs in what might be frustration.

"We _did_."

Coran cannot contain his own anger any longer, but before he can say anything, Allura continues.

"Putting someone in _isolation_, when they are _in no way a threat_ to themselves or others,**_ is not helping them_**," she all but snarls. 

The matron's eyes narrow.

"It is our protocol for -"

Allura cuts her off. 

"Thank you for your time, matron. I will be taking my friend home now."

The matron's eyes narrow.

"I'm afraid that won't be possible," she says. "He's in no state to be moved."

Coran steps forwards. He's had enough of this.

"Then we will see him. _Now_."

The matron doesn't so much as blink, but she does raise a white clipboard and glance at it for a second before she replies.

"Visiting hours are over."

Coran's teeth gleam in the light, but his smile is also forced.

"Are they, now?"

The matron's smile is colder than ice. 

"I'm afraid so. You'll have to come back tomorrow."

The Royal Advisor is only a few tics away from reaching out and breaking the clipboard into pieces when the Altean Princess makes a motion with her hand. 

_They're in._

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed! <3 I love reading comments!


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